visualrambling.space
Learning and science
math visualization
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visualrambling.space
I was curious about spherical helix, ended up making this visualization
visualrambling.space#spherical helix#parametric equations#3d math visualization#sphere spiral
How HN took it
36 positive, 27 neutral or asking, 1 mixed, 14 critical, out of 78 comments about the project. Thread score +0.28.
Idea: 15 for, 1 againstDesign: 9 for, 5 againstExecution: 8 for, 3 againstDocs: 2 for, 2 againstPerformance: 0 for, 3 against
The thread, comment by comment
Each row is a top-level comment and its replies, in HN's order. Select a cell to open that comment on HN.
positive neutral or mixed critical about another commenter or something else the maker
What HN said
What people liked
Clear, beautiful teaching of parametric math through animation
From 5 comments
This is excellent. I'm always looking for good things to show my students on coordinate systems and geometry, and this joins the list. Thank you for diving down the rabbit hole…
Duanemclemore on HNThis is fantastic. What a terrific combination of the creative presentation and the clear exposition of information. You've hit on a very nice aesthetic and a stunningly clear…
thopkinson on HNThat's an excellent job of teaching - thank you!
SKILNER on HNThis is awesome, it was easier to understand that what my uny theacher tried to explain.
BlitzCloud on HNI love this. It's pretty and really easy to digest.
fleebee on HN
Helpful for students and learners of trigonometry and geometry
From 3 comments
This is excellent. I'm always looking for good things to show my students on coordinate systems and geometry, and this joins the list. Thank you for diving down the rabbit hole…
Duanemclemore on HNI am about to start my computer science degree, so this visualization got me really excited to dive into the mathematics of it all. I love to see these kind of animations, but…
willdelorm on HNI applaud anybody who makes visualizations of difficult to grasp concepts - so, thank you very much. As a visual (spatial) learner, I often wonder how my math/science education…
p00dles on HN
Objections
Does not work well in some browsers; Firefox and Librewolf issues reported
From 3 comments
When I first opened it, its basically a bunch of static pages that made absolutely no sense. My first question was 'why is this garbage being #1 on HN?' Then I realized that,…
mystraline on HNI'm using dev edition v143.0b2 and I'm apparently not seeing what everyone else is seeing, because I'm just seeing the axis tags moving around using some pretty simple math.…
sli on HNFor me, it doesn't work entirely in Librewolf 142 (shows the text, and some tags moving around an otherwise black screen), but does work in Firefox Nightly.
hotsalad on HN
Heavy CPU use and performance problems
From 3 comments
I can't tell why, but I'm getting terrible performance on Linux/Brave. The CPU spikes immediately on visit. I'm on a powerful machine (32 GiB RAM, Intel i9 w/ 24 cores).
mustaphah on HNIt seems like it might be cool but between the background animation and the resource intensiveness I'm having trouble actually reading it. Is there a mostly-text version somewhere?
phyzome on HNit's impressive enough to crash my browser (twise) before I got to see it the full digital resource conflict jam and judder!
metalman on HN
Dither effect and constant spinning background are distracting or cause headaches
From 2 comments
The content is good, but the weird dither effect is giving me a horrible headache! I'm glad you created it (it's always good to see someone bring an idea to fruition!), and I…
coreyp_1 on HNVery distracting to try and read text in the middle of a constantly spinning visualisation
adammarples on HN
Too big a leap in difficulty; not enough explanation of the spherical helix itself
From 3 comments
Very cool & pretty, but I feel a little let down. There is a huge leap from the basics of 3d plotting & spheres to the crazy pattern you tease and then show at the end. I…
dgrin91 on HN> Together, these functions create a spherical helix... That's all! This strikes me as backwards reasoning. You are showing "these functions" -> spherical helix But I actually…
tantalor on HNwhen it gets past the "intro" slides and into the A-B-C explanation, slide 11 says "A helix is a shape that loops around and around, like a spring." Unfortunately, what is shown…
fsckboy on HN
Requests
Explain how to make constant-speed motion along the path
From 2 comments
Awesome visualizations. The part that I was expecting to see but didn't: how can you move at a constant speed? For the original purpose of positioning objects along a path, it…
sfink on HNthanks! currently the path is expressed as function of (t), and it's the t that progressed at the constant speed. so the cube will finished one loop at the same duration, and…
damarberlari on HN
Better navigation, such as scroll or swipe to advance slides
From 3 comments
Thanks. My useful feedback is that navigation violated my expectations. I was in mobile FWIW. I didn't know what to do so I started to scroll. My touch to the screen kicked into…
erikerikson on HNCool! My first instinct was to scroll. I suggest you treat the scroll down as a signal to move 1 slide further
lucho_mzmz on HNReally love this project, I only have small little UX nitpick: as lefthanded person it is quite cumbersome to tap right side of screen. Go to solution is to navigate using…
aacid on HN
Provide source code or write-up on how it was made
From 3 comments
This is super nice to view, could you share how you made it? I want to make something similar for Rotation Matrices
mostlyk on HNthis is so pretty. Have you done any write-ups on how to create this (or any of the other visualisations on your page). I would love to learn more.
haritha-j on HNWish the bundle.js wasn't minified so I can look at the code and see what's going on!
MarcelOlsz on HN
Provide a text-only version
From 1 comment
It seems like it might be cool but between the background animation and the resource intensiveness I'm having trouble actually reading it. Is there a mostly-text version somewhere?
phyzome on HN
Questions
How is constant speed along the path achieved?
From 2 comments
Awesome visualizations. The part that I was expecting to see but didn't: how can you move at a constant speed? For the original purpose of positioning objects along a path, it…
sfink on HNOkay, I have some followup questions. Are the points equally spaced? I.e. the cube's |∆p| is constant? I see you scale z by the sin. What happens of you don't?
Tyr42 on HN
Why was this particular z function chosen?
From 2 comments
I was wondering about the “correctness” of the z-axis movement for the spherical helix. You could pick lots of different functions, including simple linear motion (z = c * t).…
pimlottc on HN> You could pick lots of different functions, including simple linear motion (z = c * t) that was also my first intuition when making this, but turned out making the z function…
damarberlari on HN
How was the cube's drain/fill effect created?
From 1 comment
Nifty, but what I'm curious about is how you created the drain/fill effect on the cube.
danans on HN
Alternatives named
Desmos 3D graphing
From 1 comment
You can play with the equations on 3D Desmos here: https://www.desmos.com/3d/t66etxi1y8 Interesting to note that the parametric equations of the spiral are linear in spherical…
mayoff on HN
p5.js
From 1 comment
I've recently gotten interested in p5js, which is a fun and easy way to explore this kind of stuff; if anyone here is currently thinking (like I am) that you want to try this out…
pavel_lishin on HN
Shadertoy and The Book of Shaders
From 1 comment
If you like this, you will probably enjoy https://www.shadertoy.com/ and https://thebookofshaders.com/
ForHackernews on HN